Polishing your project is an important decision. So when should you do it?
Say you’re carving a wooden sculpture of a person. As you carve away, the figure starts to look like a human being. You look at it, think it’s good to go and bring in the sandpaper. You spend a couple hours smoothing out the rough edges until your figure feels ready to present.
You leave the dusty studio and show it to your friend. She lifts it up, looking at the piece from all angles and makes a skeptical face. “The torso is way bigger than the legs,” she says.
You pick it up and give it a full look-over just like she did. You realize you were looking at it from the same perspective the whole time. You had never considered what it would like from below and from a side view. She’s right. The torso looks way too big.
Back to the studio you go. Whittling away at the torso and getting it down to the proper size. Once again, it’s time to bring out the sandpaper. Smoothing over the edges yet again.
It’s clear by this story that you brought in the sandpaper too early. You didn’t need to spend hours smoothing over the rough parts in order to get the feedback about the torso being out of proportion.
This doesn’t just happen in sculpture, though. It happens in any kind of creation. Writing, music, painting, entrepreneurship.
We need to spend less time sanding and more time seeking feedback. Don’t wait until it’s all polished before you get a new perspective. Hold off on the sandpaper just a little longer.